Tracs Movie Reviews

this Film is Cool in it's Musical Productions.not much of a story.I caught it on BET Starz's the other Night.it did show the Shady Business Manager.Good for some Laughs.

To enjoy this movie, you cannot take it seriously. Just enjoy the music, forget about the plot. I think of it as a cult type of movie. It has 40's type of music in it.

Not only is Harry Williams a great singer, he has great acting skills.
This movie does wonders for the soul. It is rich of life and laughter.
It is one of the first musicals that had a semi-black cast.
Big UPS to Bloodstone!
Love Nikki!
hi harry!

Labor Pains while not a completely horrible movie, is pretty hard to watch. This movie does not have a good script and the acting certainly didn't add anything. There is very little character development, most of the characters never move beyond one dimensional, ... and completely unbelievable people. The acting in this movie is some of the worse I have ever seen, even the more famous actors like Mary Tyler Moore completely over act. This movie is supposed to be a romantic comedy, but I never laughed once. I wouldn't rent this movie, but if it is on TV and you are bored I would give it a try.

This is an off-the-wall movie about a young woman (Kyra Sedgwick) who gets pregnant by her boyfriend (Rob Morrow), then breaks up with him because he fears commitment. She doesn't bother to tell anyone but her best friend (Lela Rochon) about the little bun she has in the oven. She considers abortion, but (thankfully) not for very long. She finally decides to give the baby up for adoption after its birth (maybe...). She goes into labor maybe 20 minutes into the movie, and leaves everything up to her best friend, who calls the baby's father and her parents, who all converge at the hospital for a hilarious "family reunion". I'm not going to give the ending away...and I'm not going to say that this is the greatest, funniest movie I've ever seen. In my opinion, it's a worthwhile rental. Keep in mind that it's not all that true-to-life; for instance when the doctor asks her how far apart her contractions are, she replies with a big smile and, "you know I've really lost track". YEAH, right! Not only that, but she finds the time somewhere in all of this while she's at the hospital (even though she went into labor at a restaurant and wasn't carrying any visible bags) to slip her huge pregnant self into a clingy red dress, complete with slits up the sides. Isn't that just all the rage in every maternity wing for laboring women??? If you can get past these few little quirks, you might find this movie enjoyable. One of the funniest aspects of the movie was that all of the older married couples seemed to still be quite...active. It has an R rating for some language and a few fairly explicit sex scenes, so it's definitely not a family movie, but it could have been a lot worse. As a young single woman, I get tired of renting movies targeted towards me that are filled with all sorts of propaganda promoting abortion, homosexuality, and/or other things I'm not involved with and don't really want shoved down my throat at every opportunity. It was nice to see a new movie come out that actually promoted marriage and parenthood.

This movie is the original of the re-released version known as Red River Valley, a VHS copy of which I have. This DVD is of medium quality as it appears to have been made not from a film print but from a VHS tape. The double shadows and ghost effects are obvious. MY Goodtimes EP mode VHS copy was far better than this.

Another title for this movie was Man Of The Frontier. Gene delivers cattle to a small town which is having a struggle keeping swindlers from shutting down the dam that supplied water to the valley...Smiley Burnette is his sidekick and at his funniest best! Lot's of action from this early movie made in the late 1930's. You will see a rising star really doing a dangerous stunt himself. Autry did alot of his own stunts and in this one almost got sweep down the river because of slippery moss as he was wading across the dam according his film biography. So watch this and see him progressing on his way to the top!! What can you say!! He was a HERO!!

This film was Actually pretty good!!! Nice production for a "direct to home video" release! I bought it because "Catherine Mary Stewart" was in it only...but it turned out to be a fairly decent thriller! A little predictable, but well acted.

three and a half stars out of five...

this was a fairly gripping psychological thriller with decent plot twists and stylish direction.I could not figure out who was the killer at the end so I give it high marks for that alone.

A GOOD FAMILY FILM FOR ALL AGES. THE CHILDREN TRY TO
GET THEIR MOM AND DAD BACK TOGETHER. THE CHILDREN ASKED
FOR CUSTODY OF THE HOUSE AND THE PARENTS HAD TO TAKE TURNS
STAYING WITH THEM. THOUGHT THIS WAS A VERY NOVEL IDEA.

BOTH MOM AND DAD LOVED EACH OTHER BUT WERE UNABLE TO SOLVE THE
PROBLEM.

AN EXCELLENT ENDING ON THE MOVIE AND GOOD LESSONS ON LOVE.

Don (Carl Marotte) and Rebecca Reece (Sophie Lorain) form an unlikely pair, at least unlikely since Don has changed so much since 18 years ago when they got married. And how unfortunate for the four kids: Brian (Ricky Mabe), Emily (Elisha Cuthbert), Heidi (Emma Isherwood) and Amy (Sally Isherwood) that Don and Rebecca have decided to separate. But Jennifer Rhodes (Fatuma Kayembe) -- the brains of the group -- has plans, at least for the kids.

After a number of years as a professional architect, Don grows sullen and much too somber when compared with Rebecca who has always been bright and a little flighty. But, she made Don laugh -- until recently. Now there is a stern and so proper husband living with a still fun-loving wife. Not a good combination. And how four very pleasant and intelligent kids were produced by this dueling duo is beyond me. But it is just a movie.

When Jennifer, the daughter of a lawyer and a very good friend of Emily, the oldest of the Reece kids learns of the plans of Don and Rebecca, she remembers some of her father's legal dealings and arranges for a judge to draw up an order of possession of the house should the parent split, i.e., who gets the house.

When Don and Rebecca finally tell the kids they are separating, the kids were prepared. The legal order of the judge was that if the parents split up, the kids get the house and the parents get alternating weekly visitation. But still the kids are not at all happy with the separation, so they devise devices to get mom and dad back together. And that is probably the best part of this very, very good movie. I will not spoil any more of it for you and hope that you find the tape of this movie....

Chris Rock can do so much better. I realize he had to somewhat "tone it down" to give the film some degree of believability, but his past work did a better job of ripping apart the establishment and criticizing society. This movie rather turns out to be a cheap imitation of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I was, however, amused by Bernie Mac and the other presidential candidate - Brian Lewis. Bernie Mac's rough-around-the-edges character provided a few chuckles and the other candidate provided a good satire of American politicians.

Worth renting if you have nothing else to rent.

I don't really care who's white and who's black at all, but some of the things that Chirs Rock's charecter stood for were so liberal that I would have voted for thje other guy. I'm a Repulican and think the idea of gun contol is dumb, and Chirs Rock suggested that if someone had a gun, beat him up. Overall, it was okay, but had alot of "Lets make fun of white people jokes because they won't care anyway" jokes. It's like...it just mmakes me mad that this movie had alot of racist jokes toward whites, but oh well.

OK, so this may not be a realistic thing in this country, but I still enjoyed the fact that Chris Rock could do a movie on it just the same. The part of his brother being his running mate and all, I had to think on that because he couldn't find NO ONE else to be his running mate. And check out the opponent's saying, "God Bless America and NO One Else" what in the world was that? Other than that, loved it.

Chris Rock can do so much better. I realize he had to somewhat "tone it down" to give the film some degree of believability, but his past work did a better job of ripping apart the establishment and criticizing society. This movie rather turns out to be a cheap imitation of Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. I was, however, amused by Bernie Mac and the other presidential candidate - Brian Lewis. Bernie Mac's rough-around-the-edges character provided a few chuckles and the other candidate provided a good satire of American politicians.

Worth renting if you have nothing else to rent.

I don't really care who's white and who's black at all, but some of the things that Chirs Rock's charecter stood for were so liberal that I would have voted for thje other guy. I'm a Repulican and think the idea of gun contol is dumb, and Chirs Rock suggested that if someone had a gun, beat him up. Overall, it was okay, but had alot of "Lets make fun of white people jokes because they won't care anyway" jokes. It's like...it just mmakes me mad that this movie had alot of racist jokes toward whites, but oh well.

OK, so this may not be a realistic thing in this country, but I still enjoyed the fact that Chris Rock could do a movie on it just the same. The part of his brother being his running mate and all, I had to think on that because he couldn't find NO ONE else to be his running mate. And check out the opponent's saying, "God Bless America and NO One Else" what in the world was that? Other than that, loved it.

I initially debated whether to give this movie two or three stars, as at times it was moderately enjoyable. Some parts of it were so absurd, however, as to defy the viewer's imagination and intelligence. Moreover, Melanie Griffith was decidely miscast for the role she played. A hard boiled detective with a breathy, little girl voice like Marilyn Monroe just doesn't cut it. So, I gave the film its just desserts and awarded it the two stars it deserves.

The film revolves around the murder of a Hasidic man in a jewelry store in the diamond district of New York. Emily Eden (Melanie Griffith), an angst ridden and tough, hard nosed NYPD detective with the sexual scruples of a cat in heat, is assigned to cover the murder. She goes to Brooklyn to debrief the Rebbe (Lee Richardson), as to his knowledge of the victim, and shows up inappropriately attired. Now, NYPD may be a lot of things, but totally stupid thay are not. NYPD would never have allowed a detective, who did not have some understanding and familiarity with the customs of the Hasidic community, enter that community to try and get information. Nor would the Detective, a woman, have gone alone, given the Hasidic community's beliefs about the roles of men and women.

Though Detective Eden sounds decidely stupid throughout the film, she is smart enough to figure out that it was probably someone from the community who did the murder, given the nature and condition of the crime scene. In order to properly investigate, however, she believes that she needs to infiltrate the Hasidic community and go undercover, as a ba'al teshuvah, a Jew who has chosen to embrace an orthodox life style. So, she dyes her bleached, blonde hair brown, dresses conservatively, and goes to live with the Rebbe, his hunky son, Ariel (Eric Thal), and Mara (Tracy Pollan), the Rebbe's adopted daughter. Detective Eden lusts after Ariel, who is attracted to her. She has heart warming talks with Mara. Totally ignorant of the ways of the Hasidim, she manages to break many of its rules, with Mara always hovering around to correct her. She doen't seem to do much investigating, however, defeating the whole purpose of the charade.

Somehow, the murder gets solved without doing too much investigation, so if the viewer is looking for a police procedural, prepare to be disappointed. If the viewer is looking for a cultural appreciation of the Hasidic community, prepare to be disappointed. This is a romanticized and absurd portrayal of this unique and insular community. If the viewer is looking for a cross-cultural romance, prepare to be disappointed, as the budding romance between Emily and Ariel finally fizzles and is never consummated. If the viewer is looking for a film about renewal of one's faith in one's self and personal redemption, the movie sort of heads in that direction but never explains the route it takes, so when it sort of arrives at its destination, no one can figure out how.

This is a film that had potential, but somewhere along the way veteran director, Sidney Lumet, dropped the ball. It is simply not ready for prime time. See it only if you are desperate to fill some time, and there is nothing else worthwhile to take its place.

Really, the only thing I enjoyed about Stanger Among Us was the slight study it did of Hasidism. So much of the plot was unreal and contrived that its pretty lame. Melanie Griffith turns in a poor job as the detective who falls for Ariel the main Hasid character. No Hasid would ever read to her out of the Kabala what the movie had him read to her in the back yard,it just would not happen, he would turned the page from that selection and chose something else. Can't really recommend this one.It has its good points, but the bad one's so detract from its worth.

OK, so it's not the best film in terms of police procedurals -- if you are looking for a hard-core crime drama, this isn't it. This movie was a spin-off from "Witness," which took place in the Amish community, and, like "Witness," the real value of "Stranger" is in the multi-cultural details and dialogue. The murder mystery is just a formula plot for presenting an introduction to Hasidic culture. Viewed as such, the film can be a useful teaching tool, and that's why I've been recommending it on my website's Hasidism FAQ. I myself use it in social studies classes here in rural Minnesota, where most of the students have never met any Jews at all, let alone Hasidim.

Now granted, there are some things in the film that are pure Hollywood, such as the little book referred to as "The Kabbalah" that reads like a sex manual. In real life, "kabbalah" is a collective term referring to Jewish mysticism. There is no one book called "The Kabbalah" any more than there is any one book called "The Zen." Although some kabbalstic texts do contain certain sexual imagery, the stuff that Ariel reads to Emily in the film is more like erotic love poetry. This serves a purpose in the story, but it's not Jewishly accurate, and for that, I'm docking it a star. On the other hand, the film does address some of the negative stereotypes about Hasidim, such as that ridiculous urban legend about the hole in the sheet. (NOT!)

The real "kabbalah" of the film is in the message about finding one's soulmate. In the beginning of the film, Ariel reads a line from his kabbalah book: "God counts the tears of women." He has no idea what this means, it's just words. Later, at the end of the movie, Ariel's Hasidic bride-to-be quotes this same line back to him. She explains what it means, then says: "It's in the kabbalah." From this, we know that they are true soulmates, even though this is the first time they have met face-to-face. Emily (the detective) has also decided to wait for her true soulmate, which is what she tells Levine, who has been making passes at her throughout the film. But Emily has now grown in her understanding of relationships, and knows that fooling around with the Levines of the world is not love.

There are some fine Hasidic scenes in the film, such as the Sabbath celebration, which shows both men's and a women's dance circles. Especially nice is the inclusion of a black couple at the Rebbe's table, presumably representing the Ethiopian Jews. The wedding scene is also well done. (Trivia: the music used for the wedding march is a Bobover Hasidic tune for "Lecha Dodi," the song which welcomes the Sabbath Bride of Friday night.) It is for these scenes that I find the film most useful in mlti-cultural education.

Don't expect another Office Space with this one. The main character is pathetic, but not in any way that's endearing. The jokes are wishy-washy and bland and the plot is worse. I've been a slacker temp and I still didn't identify with this movie, or find it very funny.

A laugh track would have helped me know what parts were supposed to be funny. I rented this movie with a free coupon from a local rental store and I feel like I was ripped off. I can't imagine how people who paid to see this must feel, much less the poor saps that wasted the money to produced this thing. I've seen bad movies before, but this is ridiculous.

I feel bad that someone might read this and feel intrigued enough to rent and watch this movie. This isn't one of those bad (good) movies. It is just a waste of time. This is the kind of movie that if you rent it and invite friends over, you will be the butt of jokes for weeks to come.

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Those who found no humor in this film should play the Amazon nickel quiz and use the proceeds to buy themselves a funny bone.

This is not yuk, yuk, yuk, slapschtick humor, that's true. It doesn't depend on people leaping 50 feet in the air or falling down a staircase or swallowing a bug or dropping their drawers in a public place.

This film is based on a more sophisticated real-life humor. If you can't look back and remember times and jobs that you are really, really glad are in past and still laugh about it, you are not going to like this film. On the other hand, if you think life is a tragi-comedy, you'll probably love it!

Before I begin dishing this out for Disney, I will give my one (and ONLY) praise about this movie. The music in it is beautifully written. It's only too bad the rest of the movie couldn't have been this good.
If anyone out there is thinking of renting/buying this movie and showing it to their kids, expecting it to be an animated version of the original, FORGET IT. Wait until they're old enough to see the really thing. This movie would be good as a stand-a-lone, if they had been the first to make the whole thing up. But it is a true disgrace to compare this to the original film. Even the story line strays from what we would all expect to see....

I truly enjoyed this movie. It is highly underrated and hopefully will be appreciated in years to come. Instead of going over plot details, I trust just about everyone is familiar with "The King and I," I'll instead go over the things that I enjoyed most about the film.

Director Richard Rich, who helmed Disney's The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron, helms a very Disney-worthy animated feature for another movie studio. The artwork is beautiful, very vibrant, but the animation is on par with alot of the Disney films from the 1980s, maybe. The characters are basically the same from the original musical, The King of Siam and Anna included. However, there is a new character named Master Little who is voiced by SNL funnyman Darrell Hammond. He's probably the funniest part of the movie. One detractor, is that I thought that the villian, The Kralahome, was a bit too much like Jafar from Disney's Aladdin in his attempt to manipulate various characters, the King included.

However, I think the number one reason I like it better than the 1956 version is because it is only a brief 90 minutes while the original tops out at a whopping 133 mins. Overall I enjoyed Warner's 'King,' even though it seems to drag at points, I will no doubt enjoy watching it for years to come.

This version of "The King And I" seems to have gotten a bad rap!
Sure, much of the original story has been altered to make this "Family Viewing" but, the true heart remains! And those wonderful songs by R & H beautifully performed by Martin Vidnovik (The King) and Christiaine Noll (Singing Anna) are pure joy!
WB threw their hat into the animated feature film ring and created something as impressive as Disney/Pixar or Dreamworks ever could! However, this film did not achieve Disney or Dreamworks box office success! This film is a great introduction for children and adults to a classic american musical. I would love to have seen a new trend of animated classic musicals begin such as "Flower Drum Song", "Anything Goes", "Annie Get Your Gun", "Into The Woods", "Fiddler On The Roof" "Hello, Dolly!" or even "Gypsy" now wouldn't that be interesting! The animated TK&I has alot going for it gorgeous animation, great voices (speaking and singing), a great story and a timeless musical score! The running time is just under 90 minutes. Some of the songs were cut from the film but included in the closing credits performed by Barbara Streisand. The DVD has many cool features like a couple of "Making Of" featurettes. Cast & Character Bios and a sing-a-long! A DVD essential for any musical theater fan! Although, I'm sure many musical theater fans would strongly disagree with me!
Also see: "Anna And The King Of Siam (1948), "The King And I" (1956) and "Anna And The King" (1999) or read many of the books written about the life of Anna Leonowens and The King Of Siam.